Love Like This

4

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For Juliana, it feels amazing to fall head-first in love with another person. It feels simply blissful to be risky for once, to go with the flow even if your mind begs you to take it slow.

Anders is a beautiful specimen of a man. Juliana could practically melt into his chocolatey brown eyes and messy brown hair. That side smirk he seems to flash at her when he thinks she's not looking could simply be the death of her. Juliana wants to run her finger down his sloped nose and sharp jaw. Her imagination runs wild whenever Anders pops into her head.

"You're beautiful," he'd whisper into her ear as he placed a warm kiss on her throat. "And smart." A kiss lands on her cheek. "And my everything," he'd murmur against her lips.

Juliana told him she loved him on their second trip to the stream. They were wet and cold, but she couldn't help up look into his warm eyes to tell him what she really felt. In response, he kissed her hard on the mouth. She didn't exactly know what that meant, but who would kiss someone they did love, anyway?

It's Sunday, and Juliana is sprawled onto a comfy sofa in Anders' basement. His whole family was home when she came to visit him on a whim, and they chatted with her about college and job outlooks before allowing her to stay while they went out to eat. "Make yourself at home," his dad kept telling her. "He'll be overjoyed to come home from work and see you here."

So that's why Juliana is currently in Anders' empty home, chilling on his sofa. She feels weird and completely out-of-place inside of his empty home, but she forces herself to calm down.

She doesn't want to snoop or impede on his family's privacy, so she simply sits at the kitchen counter, impatiently tapping on the granite counter. She hears the grandfather clock in the dining room ticking, which only reiterates the sluggishness of time itself.

Juliana decides to move into the living room. She walks on the fluffy carpet and flops onto the blue couch. Messing around on her phone, she attempts to burn time, but another half and hour passes. Anders should be home by now, she thinks, biting her lip. His shift at the local grocery store should have ended 40 minutes ago. Where is he?

When Juliana rises from her seat, she hears the lock on the front door click open. She eagerly awaits his arrival, fixing her hair and folding her hands in front of her with a grin on her face.

Sure enough, Anders emerges from outside, alright. Only this time, there's a catch; he's got a pretty little blond girl hanging under his arm. He fails to notice Juliana and is preoccupied with kissing the stranger.

Juliana's jaw goes slack and hangs open in surprise. She should have known that he was too good to be true, that handsome guys like him are all a bunch of players.

"Are you serious?" Juliana hears herself say.

Anders jumps out of surprise with wide eyes, not expecting to see anyone in his house, let alone his girlfriend. "What are you doing here?" he asks, his voice sounding strangled and high.

"Your parents let me in. I wanted to surprise you," she replied, crossing her arms and staring at the girl with tanned skin and bleach-blonde hair. "But it seems to me that I'm the one being surprised."

Juliana pushes past them, wiping under her eyes as she walks back to her house. "Wait!" Anders calls, running after her. "It's not what it looks like!"

"Where are you doing?" the mystery girl yells after Anders as her eyebrows furrow. "Who is she, and what the heck is doing on?"

Juliana turns her back on both of them and continues her march back home in the darkness. Anders sprints around her and places his hands on both of her shoulders, attempting to stop her. In response, Juliana shakes him off but stills in the middle of the empty street.

"What?" she deadpans, crossing her arms again.

"I'm sorry, Jules. She came onto me, and--"

"No she did not; you invited her to your own house," she angrily replies. "You're just sorry you got caught."

Anders rolls his eyes. "Yeah, I did invite her in because she was hungry after her shift was done. It's a southernly thing to do."

"And that's an excuse to kiss her?"

"No, she came onto me," he explains again. "You know I'd never hurt you like that. I had no idea she was going to kiss me." Anders runs his hands through his hair. "Just saying that makes my skin crawl. You know I love you."

Now, Juliana's not entirely sure whether he'd hurt her or not. It's not fair of him to push his problem onto her, but it's too late; the ball is in her court.

"I got to think about this," Juliana professes, backing away. "Just go home, Anders."

A wave of silence crashes over the both of them. Juliana heads home with doubts and feelings of confusion running wild in her head. Too much has happened for her to make a decision right now, so she decides to simply lay down and go to sleep.

Was Anders telling the truth or was he covering his tracks? He's been so nice and romantic throughout their month-long relationship, but Juliana isn't really sure what to think.

It seems as though the world is ending, but Juliana reminds herself that she's completely overreacting. There's no use in stressing over a boy that possible doesn't care about you.

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